It's time for the 1999 AnLab Poll. Cast your vote today for your
favorite stories and artwork from 1999 (Vol. CXIX). Vote before
February 1, 2000 and your ballot will automatically be entered
in a drawing for a free one-year subscription to Analog Science Fiction and Fact!

Our January issue marks two special occasions, and we'll celebrate
with extra pages and lots of special features. January 2000 marks
the beginning of a new millennium (at least for that sizable segment
of the population that starts counting with years ending in "000"!),
and the Seventieth Anniversary (for everybody!) of this magazine
(which has, so far, spent thirty years as Astounding and forty as Analog).

We'll start off with a dramatic cover by Kelly Freas, often called
the "Dean of Science Fiction Illustrators" and one of the most
prolific and popular artists in Analog's history. This one illustrates "Under," a new novella by Hal
Clement, often called the "Dean of Hard Science Fiction Writers."
Mesklin, the supermassive, fast-spinning planet on which effective
gravity ranges from a few Earth gravities at the equator to several
hundred at the poles, first appeared in Mission of Gravity, serialized here in 1953, and still regarded as a classic of
science-fictional world-building. Now, decades later, Clement
returns to subject the Mesklinites to a new kind of peril. . .
.

Jack Williamson, the only living writer associated with Astounding/Analog in every decade of its history, offers a personal reminiscence
about his career and ours, and Mike Resnick offers a whimsical
look at one of the ways our field has changed in that time. We'll
also have a wide range of stories by such writers as Michael A.
Burstein (one of the newest winners of the John W. Campbell Award
for Best New Writer), Ben Bova (who is not only a frequent contributor,
but served admirably as Analog's editor in the 1970s), Larry Niven, and David Brin.

Brin's story, by the way, is a tour de force that might in a sense
have been inspired by another Analog writer. In his 1986 serial Marooned in Real Time, Vernor Vinge introduced the concept of "The Singularity," a
point in history at which the curves of progress become so steep
that essentially everything changes radically in practically no
time. The idea quickly became widely known by that name, and David
Brin's story in our next issue takes a dazzling look at a world
beyond The Singularity.
All in all, we think it's a very special issue, offering a sweeping
look back at our past and ahead to our future!